"Little Ti?"
Within three seconds of Yila softly asking this, an adorable figure appeared from blurry to clear in Yila's room, kneeling on one knee in front of Yila who was reading a book.
The call, specially attuned to Yila, was caught from the direction of the training ground and then transitioned to appear before her, a process that took only three seconds.
As they say, being just a manservant is really beneath your talents.
Tipcapu waited for Yila's instructions, but after a long wait with no words spoken, the succubus raised his head to find Yila only continuously evaluating him... his face involuntarily began to turn red.
"Sorry, I was just thinking, with such a natural talent for Void Travel, if your Mana might be different from an ordinary succubus."
Noticing Tipcapu's reddening face, Yila quickly said this, moving to behind the cute male succubus, whose body now seemed a bit stiff, and said, "Please don't resist."
Sensing how easily his words could be misunderstood, Yila promptly explained before the other could think of something else: "Next, I will touch your demon characteristic to extract some Mana."
With that said, Yila reached out and grabbed Tipcapu's tail...
"Ngh~"
"..."
Ignoring the strange noise, Yila released his hold after acquiring a portion of Mana, choosing not to reflect on what the other might have felt, ignoring Tipcapu's crimson face.
Feeling the Mana flowing within the wing columns, Yila seemed to notice no differences—wherever it was stationed, it was no different from the Mana of a typical succubus.
"Little Ti?"
"Yes!"
"Where is Hilena now?"
Responding to Yila's words, Tipcapu, whose blush hadn't fully subsided, momentarily froze, then virtually vanished only to reappear about six seconds later, announcing, "In the kitchen, discussing food matters with Mr. Lime."
"Thanks, you can continue with your tasks now."
Saying this, Yila walked straight out of the room, realizing how convenient having a servant could be, albeit perhaps only with Little Ti… the [Void Travel] ability is truly handy.
"Ha~ Hoo~"
Tipcapu calmed his startled heart, taking deep breaths while rubbing the spot on his tail where Yila had grabbed it, and as his body gradually faded, he disappeared from the room.
Honestly, the experience of having Mana extracted is... particularly peculiar for a succubus.
--------------------
The kitchen door wasn't closed, and as Yila walked up to it, Mr. Lime's voice was heard, speaking in a somewhat helpless tone: "Little Slime reported that the food reserves in the territory have been dangerously low."
"The ingredients within the Demon King City can barely support us, but the residents within the Demon King Territory already have no extra food to consume; eggs, milk, and meat have almost been depleted entirely!"
From Lime's words, it seems he isn't merely the head chef within the castle; his underlings, the slimes, also partake in culinary tasks across the entire territory… rather than simply leaving some ingredients for the residents.
However, there was something crucial in his words—although the allotted portions might not be very large typically, magical creature residents seemingly have the opportunity to eat meat?!
What kind of divine place is this?!
Yila was somewhat astonished, for in contrast to the Empire, if the Empire's commoners, or slaves, could be granted white bread by noble favor, they would weep tears of gratitude.
Yet, the magical creatures of the Demon King Territory could eat meat?
"Moreover, there are only carrots left for vegetables, with only carrots and cloud greens remaining for the castle's share, and planning will be needed for using meat, eggs, and milk; afterwards, the residents of the Demon King Territory will only be able to eat Blue Quill Mushrooms and carrots daily, at least until the merchants' arrival in six days."
Lime's voice sounded somewhat frantic, resembling a situation within the Demon King Territory of [Staple food sufficient (Blue Quill Mushrooms), Carrots ample, others running tight].
But you really care about the residents within your territory…
Thinking this, Yila squinted, feeling a bit more affection for the Demon King Territory… such consideration, even if out of a desire to "protect one's own assets," makes it quite pleasant.
A merchant convoy in six days?
If a nation's food source relies on merchant convoys, then the structure of this country is extremely unhealthy… or rather, maybe that's not the case.
There's plenty of food, but it's the variety lacking?
In Yila's past world, to ensure food diversity, many nations that were major food exporters were also significant food importers… however, in this world, at least the Empire doesn't require food imports.
The dwarves continually need to import food because many crops simply can't be grown there.
Moreover, if within the Demon King's controlled regions those tribes and their ruled lands don't enter a state of passive resistance, they should be delivering harvests to the Demon King Territory.
If there is no war, there should be stable trade routes with the elves, dwarves, and beastmen, so there's no need to rely on merchant convoys… typically, merchant convoys also might not carry enough food for trading.
They can actually allow the Demon King's domain creatures to eat just Blue Quill Mushrooms.
If it were humans, transitioning from a high-quality to a low-quality life would quickly lead to rebellion, but with the perplexing loyalty of these magical creatures, unless the leaders of their own species revolt, they'll obediently wait to die even if there's no food.
That's just the nature of species.
And the leaders of various species within the Demon King Territory, those seen in the morning assembly before, by no means give off the impression of wanting to rebel, so there's no need to worry about this.
At least Yila thinks, during times like these, it's perfectly acceptable to let the residents endure a bit.
"It really is a dire situation."
Hilena said this, taking the situation seriously and adding, "I'll report it to the Demon King, it seems the formation of a hunting party needs to be expedited, and this will be addressed in tomorrow's morning meeting."
"Understood."
Responding thus, Lime seemed to think of something, continuing, "When will Mr. Yila's fertilizer be usable? How will the next quarter's yield look?"
Regrettably, Hilena wasn't very sure about this question either; as she walked towards the kitchen's exit, she replied, "Not sure, but by next quarter… at the latest, the yields of the following quarter should be significantly better."
Upon hearing Hilena's words, Lime seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, saying, "Thank Mr. Yila for me… no, I'll personally thank Mr. Yila later."
"The entire Demon King Territory should thank… Lord Yila?"
As Hilena exited the kitchen and saw Yila waiting outside, she froze in surprise for a moment before returning to her maid etiquette, bowing while asking him, "Good afternoon, Lord Yila, did you come to find Mr. Lime?"
"No, I came to find you."
Yila stated straightforwardly: "Let me touch your tail."
"..."
"Eh?!"
"No, that's not what I meant, please give me some of your Mana."
In the face of Hilena's shy astonishment, Yila calmly corrected himself…
But in fact, even that statement was somewhat odd.